The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society

The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society by Jonathan Kozol points out the hardships that people go through on a daily basis because they are functionally illiterate. I feel the essay had a very specific purpose, to inform people would not know about illiteracy, a subject Kozol obvious feels is strongly affecting society. With this in mind, the audience is a general one, applying to anyone. The style is formal, and it is arranged in a typical essay format, with a solid introduction, with points in the introduction expanded in the main, and then concluded with thoughts expanded from the main.

Kozol defines illiteracy through quotes from the people who are illiterate; using examples to support his claim that illiteracy not only affects the individual, but the country as a whole. “If even one-third of all illiterates could vote, and read enough and do sufficient math to vote in their self-interest, Ronald Reagan would not likely have been chosen president” (93), is a good example that Kozol gives to show how these illiterate people affect the whole nation. Kozol then goes on lay blame on the United States government, stating, “This is the nation that we live in. This is a society that most of us did not create but which our President and the other leaders have been willing to sustain by virtue of malign neglect” (95).

From a personal perspective, I enjoyed reading this paper. I gives an insight into illiteracy that many literate people wont ever see, with a lot of good points in regards to the United States government, as it is true what Kozol is saying, that the fact that over 60 million people are illiterate. To put that in perspective, that is the same population as Great Britain, a whole country of illiterate people.